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Fahrenheit? I only know Celsius …

A full year has past since becoming a resident of the USA, and yet, I still think in Celsius. The question of “How hot do Vancouver summer’s get?” often comes up when conversing with the locals. Each time, I casually reply, “It averages in the mid-20s, with occasional heat waves in the low 30s.”. Next, a blank/odd look to my reply always follows. I don’t blame them because I begin to take on a silly face as I stumble to convert Celsius into Fahrenheit.

Although Canada officially uses the Metric system, the Imperial system is used instead for many daily and common uses. In Canada, we use a mix-mash of Metric and Imperial units to keep things interesting.

Application

Canada

USA

Weather Forecast

Metric: Celsius

Imperial: Fahrenheit

Gas Station

Metric: Litre

Imperial: Gallon

1 L = 0.26 gal

Driving Speed Limits

Metric: km/h

Imperial: miles/h

This conversion is relatively easy because the vehicle odometer takes care of it.

Produce signs in Canada have the price per pound in large font, and much smaller details for the price per kilograms beneath.

Measurement: length

Imperial: ft/in and lb

Imperial: ft/in and lb

Furniture tags in Canada include both Metric and Imperial measurements.

Recipes: dry ingredients

Imperial: tsp and cup

Imperial: tsp and cup

Strangely, dry ingredients and oven temperatures are denoted using Imperial units, but wet/liquid measurements are referenced in Metric units.

Recipes: wet/liquid ingredients

Metric: Litres

Imperial: oz

1 L = 33 oz

Recipes: oven temperature

Imperial: Fahrenheit

Imperial: Fahrenheit

Now to memorizing the common temperature conversions and building Fahrenheit into the vocabulary …

Celsius

Fahrenheit

0 C

32 F

15 C

59 F

20 C

68 F

25 C

77 F

30 C

86 F

hot hot weather!

approaching triple digits in Fahrenheit

-10 C

14 F

-25 C

-13 F

Don’t worry, the temperatures don’t dip below 0 C/32 F in Silicon Valley!Wikipedia’s article on San Jose, CA states that the lowest temperature ever recorded was -8 C/18 F on January 6, 1884. Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where there is often a week long stretch of -30 C/-22 F temperatures during the winter months, I had to include the cold conversions above 😉